


In Dreamy Shadows Rise

by SailorSol



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers in Space
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Family, Family Reunions, Fluff, Gen, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-21 00:09:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11932221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol/pseuds/SailorSol
Summary: Some memories are stronger than others, and strength means different things to different people. Karone, Andros, and a long overdue reunion.





	In Dreamy Shadows Rise

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to wildforce71 for getting me writing again. <3

_O Memory! thou midway world_  
_'Twixt earth and paradise,_  
_Where things decayed and loved ones lost_  
_In dreamy shadows rise_

\-- My Childhood Home I See Again, Abraham Lincoln 

* * *

 

Karone shifted, pushing a strand of hair back behind her ear for the third time in as many minutes. The last time her heart was racing like this, she was pretending to be Astronema again to retrieve the Pink Quasar Saber. In retrospect, that hadn’t even been that bad. But this…

Andros caught her hand before she could push her hair back again. “Relax,” he said, offering her a small, encouraging smile.

She scowled, but didn’t let go of his hand. “I am relaxed.”

“Of course you are,” Andros agreed. His tone was smug, but with a gentle teasing tone to it.

Karone straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. She settled the false confidence around herself like a cloak, shifted her weight just enough to be ready for anything, and pasted a smile on her face. “Of course I am.”

The lift chimed. Karone resisted the urge to make a tactical retreat. She had faced down worse foes than this without batting an eye. The doors opened to reveal a diminutive woman with silver-grey hair, wrinkles around her warm, brown eyes. Karone studied her as she stepped into the room. She looked old, but she didn’t move like she was, and her eyes were sharp as she studied Karone and Andros in return.

Andros moved first, dropping Karone’s hand to step forward and embrace the woman. Karone couldn’t see Andros’ face, but the woman’s eyes closed as she returned the hug, smiling. Tears glimmered down her cheeks, and Karone—

Felt nothing.

“Mom,” Andros whispered.

If Karone had met this woman on the street, she wouldn’t have looked twice at her. There was nothing familiar in her face or the way she carried herself. Karone felt something heavy settle in her stomach as a lump blocked her throat. She had hoped…

Andros pulled back, smiling even as tears rolled down his cheeks. Karone knew he hadn’t seen their mother since abandoning KO-35 years before, hadn’t even been sure she had survived the escape and exile. She was happy for their reunion, happy that she wasn’t responsible for destroying this woman who was essentially a stranger.

“I told you I’d find her,” Andros was telling their mother. “I promised I’d bring her home.”

The woman smiled briefly at Andros, before focusing her attention fully on Karone. “My precious darling. Look how beautiful you are.”

Her ears filled with a buzzing noise and the lump in her throat refused to let her breathe. How many times had she heard those words in her sleep? How many times had she longed to hear that voice again? Her vision blurred with hot tears.

Andros caught her elbow as she started to sway. “Karone?”

She meant to say _I’m okay_ , but “Mama!” came out instead. The woman— _her mother_ —wrapped steady arms around Karone, crooning a soft lullaby Karone barely remembered. She smelled like sunshine and fresh flowers and an indescribable feeling of safety and love that Karone had forgotten completely.

Time passed, but Karone couldn’t have said how much. Andros joined their hug at some point, and the three of them cried until exhaustion led them to settle on the couch, Karone sandwiched between her mother and her brother.

“They told me you died,” Karone says, feeling like a small child again, telling her mother about a bad dream. “That the Power Rangers killed you.”

“I’m so sorry we couldn’t protect you from the monsters,” her mother said.

Karone shrugged. She had learned quickly to protect herself from them, that no one was going to comfort her when she cried or pick her up when she fell. And in those dark nights, she had become a monster herself, scarier than the rest, feared and respected. She shifted, preparing to stand. She didn’t deserve to be sitting here, after all the things she had done. Even her time as a Ranger couldn’t erase those horrible deeds.

“I’m proud of you,” her mother says. It catches Karone off guard, freezing her in place. “I can only imagine how hard it must have been for you. But you survived, and turned into a magnificent young lady.”

She shouldn’t have had any tears left, but they stung at her eyes as she pulled herself away from the couch, back turned on her family. “You don’t know the things I’ve done. The person I was.”

She heard the shifting of bodies and fabric behind her. She expected Andros to be the one to comfort her, refute her, but the hand on her elbow was too small. But there was no weakness or hesitation in the touch as her mother turned her around, pressing a hand above Karone’s heart.

“So many things were taken from you, but they never took this. You suffered terrible things, my love, but they could never change who you truly are.”

Karone had a hundred arguments in her head, but her mother was hugging her again, guiding her back to the couch to settle into a comfortable embrace. Warm hands pushed back the strand of hair that had fallen forward, tears brushed away with the pad of a thumb.

“My beautiful daughter.”

Karone let her eyes fall closed, finally relaxed.


End file.
